yungmack

He also wrote "I’ve gotten spit up and chewed out" when the actual idiomatic phrase is "chewed up and spit out." This is a common and simple figure of speech; if you can't get that right, it doesn't say much for your reliability.

Off the top of my head, here are a few: How many owners have the Bills had? What vice-presidential candidate was a Bills QB? What was the name of the stadium where the Bills originally played? What player was nicknamed "The House?" How many Bills players died in the Vietnam war? What's a Texas Red Hot?

Great summation, Promo. I would add that, after the original Bills folded, the best players migrated to the expanded NFL, among them the excellent QB George Ratterman to the Browns where he was the long-term backup to one of the all-time best -- and all-time overlooked -- QBs, Otto Graham. In those days, there was no nationally televised regular season NFL games so Paul Brown, as usual ahead of his time, created his own Browns regional network. And he shrewdly broadcast his games to WNY where the Bills fans avidly followed "their players." Throughout the 50s, the Browns had a huge following in WNY. In many ways, the Browns were Buffalo's team.

This is only my opinion but, unless a RB is that rare athlete who is so outstanding that his play and his impact puts him in a category above and beyond all other RBs of his time (think Jim Brown, Earl Campbell, the young Sayers...probably Red Grange, and maybe ten or 20 others including the Bills own O.J. Simpson)then I don't think any RB is worth a 1st round pick. In the case of Spiller, he was a luxury pick because he did not meet the "position of need" criteria, nor were his set of skills so unusual or so impressive that they would have made an immediate impact on the game. The Bills already had a wealth of punt and kick returners, and arguably had two solid backs who were good receivers and decent blockers. So Spiller filled no particularly glaring need. At the same time, there were other holes on the team that screamed to be addressed. And if the Bills wanted to add depth at RB, they could easily have done that later in the draft. In fact, they could have done it in free agency: LaGarrette Blount went undrafted. Bottom line: unless a RB is that once-every-10-year phenom, they don't rate a 1st round pick. And they especially don't rate one when there are more pressing needs.

What Gailey says he's doing is evaluating his players in a form of isolation. No game planning, no special help, strictly the individual player's ability. What this should do is allow the coaches to clearly see each player's strengths and weaknesses. From there, the coaches can game plan to maximize strengths and mask weaknesses. It makes sense to me. Of course, if you think the Bills players are just god-awful and the coaches are incompetent, then what you see in the pre-season is what you'll see in the regular season. Me, I think what Gailey's doing is the right approach. Of course, it could turn out that no matter how well you do the right thing, the roster isn't good enough to succeed. We'll find that out in about four to six weeks.

It's been posted around here before (and by myself as well) that Marv Levy always felt worried if he won a preseason game. If he did, he thought he probably wasn't using the opportunity to evaluate his own players in situations that MIGHT arise in the regular season when, it goes without saying, that the games count. Whether that was the reason the Bills looked awful Saturday -- that Gailey was using a game that doesn't count to evaluate his players -- or if the Bills really do suck is something I don't think we'll know for about another month.

Nowhere does it say He's going to do that judging stuff immediately upon arrival. If we can get Him to agree to hold off on it until the Bills win a Super Bowl, then basically we've guaranteed "world without end, amen."

:lol:

I'd like to see Jesus descend at halftime "to judge the living and the dead." And instead of any old water-into-wine miracles, I'd like to see Him turn the Maybin pick into the Ryan Matthews pick. Is that to much to ask?

Let me ask you: are you a bear? Because it sounds like you've been hibernating all winter and spring, missing out on a draft and FA signings that were massively focused on the defense. Do any of these names ring a bell: Dareus, Aaron Williams, Merriman, Barnett, White, Sheppard, Searcy, Jasper? Oh, and by the way, they got rid of Maybin. I guess you didn't hear about it. Yeah, they developed him right off the roster.

I'm dead certain they will...just as soon as a genuine franchise QB is available at their slot.

Or Jauron's system? Or Fewell's? Um, maybe it's the player and not the system. BTW, I think most of us figured NE, Miami or the Jets would pick him up and debrief him about the Bills...before cutting him. That's kinda SOP.

I have no idea why Gailey is doing what he is, but there is value in "keeping hope alive" throughout the roster. At the pro level, these are pretty competitive guys, with a history of being a top player, from Pop Warner onwards. They are not used to, and the good ones aren't satisfied, with being second stringers. If the starting positions are closed to competition from the get-go, and there's no way you will even be considered for one of them, then it's not hard to imagine non-starters becoming discontented and even losing interest. Imagine your own job, and if no matter how hard you worked, how well you did your job, that the boss was always going to give the plum jobs to his favored guys and you were never going to be considered for advancement. So maybe this is all about keeping morale up. But, like I said, I have no idea why Gailey is doing what he is.

The case could be made that for about eight years of the first decade of this century, the most consistent top team was USC. While any number of other teams rose and fell during that time (and beat them out for top dog more often than not), they were always early-season picks for numbers 1-3 and usually finished somewhere in the top five range. Additionally, they played a very NFL friendly style. During that time SC sent a large number of players to the NFL. Now, for whatever reason, the Bills never once drafted a single one of their top players during that time. This reached the apogee of absurdity when the Brain Trust passed on Matthews and Cushing in favor of Maybin. I have no idea why this was so but it seemed at the time to be very odd. The reason Nixley seems to favor the south and the SEC in particular probably has to do with familiarity, an important factor when reloading on the run (the same reason Nix signs so many former Chargers, I'd guess). It also probably has more than a little to do with the SEC being the most dominant collegiate conference. So, you had one regime ignoring one of the best NFL factories and a new one turning to another excellent NFL factory. We'll see how it turns out, but if I had to bet serious money on which one is more likely to be successful, my vast fortune would be on Nixley. As an aside, there are a ton of Pac-10 players in the NFL, just not on the Bills. It may not be the SEC but it's still pretty darned good football. It may have escaped notice by some but Nix has significantly enlarged - and I believe, improved - the scouting department, with an increased focus on the West Coast department. So look for that to have an impact in coming years on the Bills roster. All in all, I'd say this is an organization pointed in the right direction and making the right decisions far, far more than not.

In trying to decode Gailey's statements about Smith, I THINK what he's going to do is have him on the field as a "regular" player often. That is, he'll be a running back, and he'll be a receiver. But because of who Brad Smith is and what he can do, defenses will constantly be uncertain if he's in as a RB, a WR, a QB or in for the wildcat (the Wild Bill?). And when you can make the defense uncertain, you've just gained an edge. In a league where teams are so close, this could be huge. And as a fan, it's going to make this a lot more fun to watch than anything from the Jauronica era.

Man, Nix has really screwed up with the O line. None of the backups, none of the second year players, none of this year's FAs look like HOF quality players in the first pre-season game. Fire Nix Now!

Marv Levy once said something to the effect that if the Bills won a preseason game he worried that he'd done something wrong. The point to him was to try things you'd never do in the regular season to see how his guys would handle it, like go for it on fourth and six inside your own territory, or try the 60 yd field goal, etc. As to ST, as others have said, many of these guys are not likely to be the guys on ST when the season begins. And add in that no coach in his right mind is going to tip his hand in preseason and be anything but plain vanilla.

According to Chan, at his postgame news conference, the Bears wanted to practice their kick coverage. They asked him if that was okay, and he agreed to it.

I see third grade is back in session.

Not bad at all. And it shows the problem the FO is going to have cutting this guy or that guy. I guess it's a nice problem to have that no matter what they do, they're going to get some harsh criticism on both sides (who they keep and who they let go).

Carrington is 305 lbs of strength, speed and hitting power...and sometimes playing OLB! That's just crazy...crazy good.

Thanks, nicely done.

Guys, I do believe Spartacus and 5 wide are joking around. Reese? I don't know.

I don't believe the Dolphins are better than the Bills. If the Jets are better, it's not by much. The Patriots probably are still the top team in the division but their key players are aging. If the Bills defense improves as much as it looks like it's capable of, the days of Tom Terrific sitting in the pocket like in an easy chair are over with. And when Tom is harassed, the Pats become a beatable team. As to the Eagles, they sure won the Super Bowl of FA signings. But that can be as much a negative as a positive as they try to get all those new pieces gelling together. A lot of short-term contracts, which says to me quite a few of their players might try to personally shine for the next FA signings. They are also vulnerable at QB. Does Vick make it through an entire season? If he goes down, it's Vince Young time. And the game will be played at the Ralph fairly early in the season. This is not an Eagles "gimme." The Raiders and Bengals and Skins don't appear to be as good as the Bills (the key word being "appear"). I think right now I'd put Denver and the Titans in that group. The Giants are tough but for my money they're not as great as their NY media-fueled hype. The Cowboys are hard to figure. Are they going to finally play like the pundits annually claim they are capable of? Or does their dysfunction continue this season? That leaves the Chiefs and the Chargers. I think they are probably two of the best teams the Bills will face all year, though KC might stumble a bit. But it's the opener and it's in KC which I think works in KC's favor. The Charger game is late in the season, when the Chargers of late have been at their strongest. And it's in San Diego. Every look into the future has a whole lot of "if this" and "maybe that." But "if" the Bills defense is as improved as it seems to be on paper, and "if" the offense is even a little more adequate than last season, and "if" key players don't start dropping like flies, and "if" the Gods of Football smile and a couple of bounces and breaks go the Bills way, then "maybe" this turns out to be a very satisfying season. It's true that hope springs eternal, and never more so than before the season begins. But a winning season this year is much more believable to me than it has been in six or seven or more years.

I didn't say that you said that about Whitner and Maybin, only that that is a constant drone around TSW. And whether or not the line is crud or not, Nix has addressed it. Maybe it turns out he's right, maybe that you're right. But to say he hasn't addressed it is simply not true. In any case, I don't believe he's content with what he has (a good GM never is)and we can expect him to keep working on it through the season and into the next off season. in the meantime, I'm willing to give the line at least a couple of exhibition games before I write them off.